Family Ties
by Atem no koibito
Summary: Although their family was small, their love for eachother was bigger than life itself. The son's love conquered the fear his father had of raising him alone, and the father's care replaced all of the absences in his son's life. And that, my lovely readers, was what made all the difference. Welcome to a story about the many little moments in their little world. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Welcome to this new story of mine which is filled with lovely one-shots that I do hope you enjoy. I have always craved to see Atem with his family. His father, his mother, etc. I don't know, that part of his memory always felt so incomplete to me. Sure we got to see a bit of his father, but I want to see more. And, since I know nothing of his mother, this won't include her. It is solely focused on Aknamkanon and Atem, and since I want to see more of that father and son relationship without the tenseness of Royal duty and behaviour, this is going to be an Alternate Universe to get a more modernish feel. I hope you like it anyways, my interpretation.**

 **Thank you. And enjoy!**

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Family Ties: Part 1

My Dad

* * *

"Hey, Dad?"

"Hm?"

Standing by the doorway of my father's office, I peered in to see him sitting at the big, brown, wooden desk that he's usually hidden behind, writing something on a sheet of paper. I could hear his blue pen scribbling away as he wrote, and from his expression, I could tell that he was busy. His rectangle framed glasses were hanging on to the bridge of his nose, and in a blink of an eye he pushed them back into place to stand like a barrier infront of his small, brown eyes.

Curious, I chewed a bit on the inside of my mouth before stopping, remembering the scolding I got from him for doing that, and stepped on to the dark, polished wooden floor and across the maroon coloured carpet to stand infront of his desk. He gave me a quick glance, continued writing, before stabbing a loud period to the end of his sentence. As soon as he did, he stopped, dropped his pen, leaned back into his spinning chair, crossed his arms, looked at me, and smiled.

"What's up?" he said simply, and I was quickly brought back to earth. My eyes immediately dropped down to the two sheets of papers in my hand. Daddy sure knew how to startle me.

"So, um, um, today, at school…"

"Yes?" he drawled, and he rose a brow, urging me to continue.

"Mrs. G. gave the class an assignment today, and she told us to ask the person, or people, we live with to help us," I began, and he leaned forward, a hand reaching out, silently asking to see the sheets I had. Taking another look at them, I gave it to him.

"Let's see what we have here," he murmured, and with a hand he ushered me over to him. Quickly I walked around the desk, my socked feet padding on the carpet, and as soon as I neared him he wrapped the outstretched arm around me, pulling me on to his lap so that we were both looking at the sheet. "Wanna read it for me?"

"Okay," I replied, and taking a breath I looked at the title. "My Family," I started, and he gazed at the little writing underneath.

"For Grades five to six." He looked up at me. "You're in grade six," and he grinned, his eyes going back to the papers for me to continue. I took a deep breath and let it out after nodding sheepishly.

"Write about a member of your family. Describe how you picture him or her and how you feel about him or her. Here are some que-questions?"

"Yep."

"…questions you might ask yourself," and I stopped there at the end of the paragraph to look at him when he spoke.

"Okay, so before you start, who are you going to write about?" he asked, and leaning back, I turned a bit to look at him. I put an arm around his shoulders and smiled.

"Who else is here for me to talk about? You of course," I said, and he nodded.

"Exactly. What's so hard about it then? You know a lot of stuff about me."

"Yeah, but…" and pouting, I gave him the saddest look I could muster. Widening my crimson eyes and sticking out my lip usually got him caving in seconds.

"You want me to tell you? You can't think about it yourself?" and he rose a serious brow.

Well, most of the time he caved.

"I know it, but there's too much writing! And I want you to help. You never help me with homework."

"That's because you don't need help to do them. You're a smart boy, you don't need big ol' Daddy's help," and I moved slightly forward when he wheeled the chair closer to the desk. As he took one look at my second best guilt-tripping face, I let out a small smile and held the pencil that he gave to me after pulling it out of the top drawer on his right.

"You'll help me?" I asked, and warmth filled my chest as he nodded, pulling me closer to him.

"I will, but you're doing all the writing. Understand?"

"Aw…"

"No aw. You're doing it. Deal?"

After a moment of thought, I had to give in to his demand. "Okay, deal."

"Good," and his eyes went back to paper that still sat on the desk. "What are those questions they want you to answer?"

"Um, so the first one is… What does this person look like?"

"What I look like?"

"Yeah."

"What do I look like?"

I looked at him, and very easily I was able to describe all of his features.

"Short, brown hair, that has some grey hairs," I teased, touching the small locks, and I laughed as his eyes rolled back to stare at his head.

"There aren't a lot of greys!" he exclaimed, but I just continued, ignoring his remark.

"You're tanned, just like me. And you have eyes that don't look like mines. Mine is red, yours are brown."

"Yes, but- hey! Don't forget to write it down," he announced, and he tapped loudly on the sheet of paper on the desk. Scowling, I sighed and turned around to write the introduction before getting straight to the description. "Anything else you want to add to that question?"

"Yup," I answered, and I looked at him from top to bottom. "You like wearing t-shirts at home."

"That I do," he nodded, and he too looked down at himself. "They're comfy."

"But, you also have a lot of suits that you wear every day for work."

"No lie about that statement," he said, and again he turned me around, a sign for me to continue writing. After I was done, I dropped the pencil and read the next question.

"What work does he or she do?" and immediately I jumped up. Taking one look at his face, I turned back towards the desk and wrote it all down.

"You know?" he asked, teasing me again, and I dipped my head once in confirmation.

"Yes! You run a company that makes toys and games. Plus, you always bring your new products for me. Especially the stuffies," I answered excitedly, and while he nodded in fake surprise, I continued to write.

"What are his or her interests?" I went on, and like a switch the second he peered over my shoulder to see what I had written, I found myself hastily hiding it from him with my body.

"What?" he wondered, and he let me go as I stood up and slowly started to back away.

"You can't look," I said, and he rose a brow.

"Why not? Don't you need help anymore?"

"I know what to do now, so you can't see it. I want it to be a surprise for you!" I explained, excited, and I watched as Dad shook his head in amusement, moving closer to his desk since I had sat up.

"Really?"

"Yes, you won't read it until I'm done."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Okay then," he sighed in defeat. "You know where to find me if you need any help," and once more he picked up his pen as I inched out the door. before I could leave though, his voice stopped me in my tracks.

"Atem! Don't forget to write your name at the top! Your teachers always complain about that, so I don't want to hear that you didn't write your name again," he called, and mentally I face-palmed. That's right.

"I won't!" I promised, and nodding furiously, shooting him another giddy look, I dashed off to my room without wasting another second.

My thoughts on what I was going to write about my dad for this assignment just got a whole lot better.

* * *

 _Atem Sennen_

 _April 19, 2016_

 **MY FAMILY**

Grades 5-6

 _For this assignment, I'm going to talk about my dad because he is the best dad in the whole world!_

 _My dad has short brown hair with a little bit of gray ones. He is also very big and has tanned skin like mines. He has small brown eyes, and he wears glasses when he writes, when he reads his books, and I can even remember him wearing them when he would read me stories before bed time when I was little. My dad likes to wear a lot of suits, and when he's home he loves to wear colourful t-shirts and black pants because he says they are comfortable._

 _My dad owns a business called Sennen Enterprises. There he tells people what to do. He goes to a lot of meetings and he sits at big tables to always talk about the company or about the company with other big companies or his workers. He is always making new games and new toys. He makes a lot of stuffies for other children and brings me one of every kind. He goes to work when I am at school, and then goes home when he picks me up. He also stays at home on weekends with me. My dad says that he really likes his job even though people make him angry, especially his rival Mr. Gozoburo Kaiba who seems very mean and angry all of the time._

 _My dad likes to read, he likes to draw, and he likes to watch cartoons with me. He likes to cook, and we both like watching the Food Channel, but sometimes he sends me away because of bad words the cooks use. He likes playing with me, and in the summer he loves to take me to the theme parks and travel to different places together for a whole month!_

 _What I admire about my dad is that he is always kind. Sometimes he's strict with me, but that is to stop me from making mistakes, like eating my mouth away when I chew on it. And, what I really like and appreciate about him is that he is always there for me. He works hard for me and he comes home tired but still cooks and cleans and play with me. He does everything, and I am very thankful and I admire that he cares so much about me._

 _What I learned from my dad is to never give up! No matter what I'm doing, I should always try my best. Even if I fail, I will learn and continue to try harder than before. He told me to do what I like and always follow my heart and listen to my head because both work better together to make hard decisions._

 _And my favourite activity to do with my dad is to play games! We play a lot of games together on the weekends, and he teaches me a lot of new card games and board games. I even like to read with him and go to the movies together and travel together. I also like to watch him cook. He is so good that I tell him to join those cooking competitions we see on TV! He doesn't want to though. He says he likes cooking for me to see. That's okay. I like it when he cooks for me too._

 _THE END!_

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"Hey, Daddy!" I squealed, jumping into the front seat of the car, slamming the door shut as a mob of students walked by, the older kids staring in awe at its model. I however didn't care. I stared at my dad who was looking through the rear view mirror before glancing at me.

"How was school?"

"It was great, but guess what!"

"What?" and he laughed a bit when he looked at my overjoyed face.

"Remember that assignment you helped me on?"

"The Family one?"

"Yeah!" and I paused, watching as he turned the steering wheel and drove forward with a tiny lurch before continuing. "We got it back today."

"Really? What did you get?"

Looking at the sheet I held tightly infront of me, I broke out into a wide grin and lifted it up for him to see what was drawn right at the top in a red pen, followed by a pink, smiley sticker.

"I got an A! I got the best mark in the class!"

"Why am I not surprised?" he asked, the smile still on his face as he signaled me to put on the seatbelt before we pulled out on to the main road. "I knew you would do it."

I nodded, my thumb running over the glittering smiley sticker. "Yup! Mrs. G. said that she really liked it. She said she would have given me an A plus if I had only added some more details. Maybe it was too simple."

"Maybe, but you tried your best, right?" and he glanced over to me, shooting me a reassuring look. I nodded.

"Uh huh," and I hugged the paper close to me, my eyes locked on the road, watching as the cars zoomed by. I leaned back even further into the seat as the air conditioner began to warm up the car even more, relieving me of the hot building I was trapped in and the boiling sun that was burning up the city, unlike a few weeks ago that had a mild snow storm.

As I started to get more relaxed, my mind and body just enjoying the silence that allowed my mind to drift without care, I found myself being hit with a sudden thought and emotion that had my heart swelling. Although I didn't have a big family, I was very lucky to atleast have my dad. He truly did so much for me, and never asked for anything in return. I don't think I was ever difficult, but it would mean something to him if I…

"Hey, Dad?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you." Looking over at him, I saw him looking at me with wide eyes that soon softened.

"What for?" he asked gently, and hugging my backpack, hiding my head and fighting back the embarrassed blush, I answered.

"For being the best Dad in the world."

Glancing over at me again, he stared for a quick second only to turn back to the road. And slowly, but surely, I looked on as a smile broke out on his face, soon turning into a wide grin.

"And you're the best son," he replied, and he grabbed my chin and squeezed lovingly. As he pulled away, my grin was already mirroring his own.

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 **Ha! So there we have it. What do you think about this first part? I know, quite OOC, but it's cute, isn't it? Hehe. I think it's cute, even though it's OOC, but hey! Alternate universe! So, if you like it as well and would like to see more when I write, please Follow, Favourite, and leave a lovely little Review to brighten my day even further. Again, constructive criticism is forever welcomed!**

 **Thank you for reading! Bye~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! Welcome back to the second installment of Family Ties. I'm happy to see that I've gathered quite a few readers who loves it just as much as I do, so thank you so much, all of you. Those who favourited, followed, and reviewed. Truly, I really do appreciate the love and it is part of the reason that pushes me forward, knowing others are enjoying it as well. :D**

 **Anyways, I'll stop ranting and let you all get on with this story.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Family Ties: Part 2

Eggs and Bones

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"Eggs!"

"What about eggs?"

"Daddy, you know I want an egg sandwich."

"Yes, but for dinner?"

A single, firm nod, and a sigh from my own mouth was released a moment later. _Oh boy_.

"Are you sure?"

Another nod was what I received, those red eyes gifted to him, courtesy of his mother, were wide and unblinking. Closing my own brown ones, I took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Oh, alright."

"Yay!"

Putting down the book I was reading, I slowly got up from the armchair and watched with a little, unsurprised smile on my face as my ever so persuasive seven year old son bounded into the kitchen happily. Across the polished, wooden floor he skidded, only to return with another slide a few seconds later to wave at me, urging me to hurry up as I pushed away the stuffed animals that were scattered across the floor.

"Atem, please, try to keep your toys off the floor. I can fall and break a bone, and then what are you going to do?" I scolded playfully as I walked over to him, and passing him I could see him watching me with an unamused expression.

"Oh Daddy, don't be silly. You won't break your bones. My stuffies are soft so they'll protect you from the floor!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"And what if they don't protect me?" I asked in jest, just to get him preoccupied with answering my questions as I moved about, pulling out all the ingredients I would need to make an omelet. Just before that though, I grabbed him around the waist with one arm, hoisting him on to the small island that separated the living room from the kitchen, where he proceeded to swing his socked legs back and forth. He was so tiny, and he liked watching me whilst I cooked, so bumping into him more than once was a regular occurrence. Atleast now I figured out a way to get him out of my walking area, yet still keep him happy. And since I'm here, might as well cook for me too.

From the corner of my eye I watched as he crossed his legs, scooting back so that he was sitting directly in the middle of the island before speaking, looking at me with that same expression that showed he was very unimpressed.

"If they don't protect you?" he repeated, and he thought for a moment, a tanned, little finger reaching up to tap his chin, before answering. "I'll call that number, the emergency number, and I'll tell them you broke a bone. They'll come for you and make you better."

"Then what are you going to do if they take me away?" I asked, and I watched as Atem looked at me with surprise.

"What do you mean? Obviously I'll come with you! I'll help you get better!"

"And how are you going to do that? Will you operate on my broken bones?"

"No!" he exclaimed, and he sat up on his knees to stare at me better. "I'll help give the doctors the pretty bandages when they need it to put on your bones! And then, then I'll bring you home and feed you soup."

At that scenario, I had to pause what I was doing and just let out a burst of laughter. That was darn cute, to think he could heal my possible broken bones with just a few, "pretty", bandages. A child's mind, so innocent and pure. Shaking my head, I continued to turn the stove on, putting in a bit of oil as I whisked away at the eggs. As I did, I glanced at him with a tiny smile.

"Oh, Atem. How will you possibly get me home by yourself?" I continued to ask him, and at the question I could see that he was getting slightly peeved. His eyes were slanted with annoyance, and his little hands gripped the edge of the granite top tightly, lips pursed into an angry pout. He didn't say anything, and his face only got more aggravated as he thought about my question. He had no idea how to respond. Aww. I let him be though and went on to pull out some slices of bread and two plates after I had poured the eggs into a frying pan to fry.

"Nothing will happen to you, okay? You won't break any bones!" Atem then suddenly exclaimed, and my head turned back to look at him. Poor thing, my questions got him upset. His face was red, mouth in a little scowl. Teasing him was amusing, but the aftermath, I was caught between his cuteness and my guilt.

"Are you sure?" I went on, turning the egg, and at Atem's nod and immediate whine to get down, I had to still what I was doing and quickly put him back down on the floor.

"Yes!" he yelled, the whine still in his voice. "I'll pack them up so you won't break your bones."

"I thought you will fix me if I do though?" and looking back at him I held in the grin as he casted me a dark glance before storming away into the living room to pick up all of his stuffies. I finally let out the smile as I turned the stove off, and watching him again I winced as he grabbed them and dumped them angrily into the pink, toy container in the corner, the frown still on his face. He got so frustrated so easily.

As he cleaned up, the little bonus that I got from all this was he finally packing those things away, I took the slightly overcooked and oily eggs which had a bit of chalet, thinly sliced tomatoes, diced onions and a sprinkle of salt, and cut it in half before sitting one half on one slice of bread, the other half on the other slice. On the white plates the two slices laid, and, as Atem would say, I tucked the eggs in with the other slice on top, flattening it down with my hand. As I stood back and looked at it, I had to let out a sigh. It wasn't much of an omelet, now that I was looking at it. Fried eggs, they were. I gotta stop calling them omelets.

As Atem continued to clean, the frown gone on his face and was just tidying up quietly, I opened the fridge and pulled out the orange juice that was in there. Atem loved orange juice, with everything and for everything- even cookies. Disaster was what it all spelled, but he liked it and would want some no matter what. So, pouring that into a small cup, plastic of course because he always manages to drop all of the glass ones, I took out a mug for myself and poured in some of the leftover tea from this morning. One sugar and some milk, and I shoved that into the microwave for forty seconds, just in time to see Atem saunter in.

"I'm done with the eggs," I said in a sing-song voice to him, my eyes lighting up to show him that the best thing he had ever eaten was finished cooking, and he seemed to have forgotten about the mean conversation because his face brightened the room.

"Really?! About time," he exclaimed, and as I handed him the juice while holding the plate -because it was glass- I followed him towards the leather couch where he plopped down, his hands reaching out to hold the plate. I however just set the thing on his lap and eyed him carefully as he picked the sandwich up and took a bite.

"How is it?"

"It's good!" he cried, chewing, and satisfied with his response, I nodded and went to grab my tea from the microwave and my own plate before returning to the living room to sit beside him. He was holding the remote when I arrived and was in the process of flicking through the cartoons that he had recorded on the TV.

Sitting down, I took a sip of my tea and then a bite, only to flinch as I tasted the salt that ruined my brain and taste buds, but as I looked over to Atem to see if he was bothered by the salt, I saw that he was already through half of it.

"Isn't there a lot of salt?" I couldn't help but ask, and as he clicked PLAY, he glanced at me and shook his head.

"No, it taste's good, Daddy. It's always good," and he turned back to the show as it sang through the theme song. As I looked at it, I wasn't surprised to see that he had chosen his favourite show to watch. It was the one about the pink hatted boy with his two fairies. One is an idiot, and the other, pink haired one nags them to the end of the world, according to them. Why Atem found it amusing, I couldn't understand. In other news, as long as he was happy with the egg, no problem at all for me.

"What's this episode about?" I asked after a few minutes, finishing the sandwich long after Atem had ate all his, and the boy was quick to reply.

"It's about bad luck! Timmy goes to a theme park and gets terrible luck, but it gets worse when the anti-fairies get out and all of the bad luck comes true. When he steps on a crack, he actually does break his mom's back!" he exclaimed excitedly, and raising a brow I turned back to the screen and viewed quietly with him, hearing the little giggles he gave every now and then. As I continued to watch however, I took notice of what was going on and didn't hold back from spilling my thoughts on to Atem to see his reaction, if I got one. I smirked anyways though and did it.

"Aw, poor her. She got her bones all broken because of her clueless son. I wonder how he'll take her home and make her better…" I trailed off, the teasing sound in my voice, and wickedly I looked over to Atem to see his eyes wide and staring at me. He was silent, and all of a sudden there was this tension in the air, and that was when I got nervous. Maybe he would just turn away and pout again. He won't yell, he won't yell, he won't yell-

"NOT THIS AGAIN!"

Who said wishful thinking was a bad idea?

* * *

 **There we have it! The end of another wonderful one-shot. I do hope you liked it, so please review and tell me what you think! Thank you for reading. Until next time.**

 **Bye~**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello~ Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm glad to see that you're all liking it. I really so appreciate the support, and I hope you find this Part amusing as well.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Family Ties: Part 3

My Not Friend, Seto Kaiba

* * *

Today was Saturday. I didn't have any school, and I was happy because Daddy was home all weekend and he said that we will go to the movies and watch that new cartoon I wanted to watch. But, no. That didn't happen. Daddy sat me down before I went to sleep last night and told me that he had an important meeting that he couldn't cancel, so here I was at his workplace with him, our plans ruined.

I walked into the building, the cool blast of the AC hitting me immediately while my hand was clasped tightly in his so that I wouldn't get lost in the crowd of people that swarmed us both as soon as we stepped out of the car. I looked up at him, his nice suit already crumpled from trying to get away from the rude people with cameras. I couldn't understand what they wanted from him, but they seemed very determined to speak to him. They were all shoving their mics at him and shouting questions that I couldn't understand. Hopefully Daddy will explain it to me.

I walked with him silently as he spoke to the quiet and nice lady at the front desk for a moment. When he was done, she got up and walked into one of those doors regular people aren't allowed in, and taking my hand once more, Daddy pulled me into the elevator that took us all the way up to the twenty eighth floor. This was where his office was, and waving and saying a good morning to the other nice lady at the desk, we walked into his office after the lady gave me a big, chocolate chip cookie.

"Okay, Atem, you just wait here for a moment, alright?" he said, letting go of my hand before walking over to stand beside his big desk. "I just have to deal with something right now, but don't worry. You won't be alone." And as he spoke, I sat down on the red, pinkish couch that was against the wall and looked at him while nibbling on my cookie. He was very out of breath, and now he was just scratching his little beard anxiously as he searched around for something in the large piles of papers that surrounded him.

"I won't be alone? Who will I be with then?" I wondered out loud. I had come expecting to be put to draw or colour quietly all day until he was ready to go home, like usual. This day was starting off very differently.

"You will play with another child, around your age, I believe. Eight? Nine? Yeah… something like that," he trailed off, and his face lit up when he found what he was looking for. It was a blue folder that was hidden under all of the papers.

"My age? Who is it?" I couldn't help but ask, and I scooted off of the couch and walked up to him, peering over the desk to see what was going on and to look at him better. "And, what was with all of the people? This never happened before," and I gazed at him with curious eyes as he let out a deep sigh. He put the folder down and smoothed his hair back before picking it up again. He made his way around the desk, and this time held my hand and led me back to the couch after casting the clock above the door a serious look.

"Atem, as you know, I have a very important meeting today," he started carefully, sitting down on the edge of the couch beside me. I looked at him, trying hard to understand what he was explaining. I know that the company is very important, and sometimes he has to work late, but it worried me a little bit to see that so many people depended on Daddy to get things done. It wasn't just me he was taking care of, huh?

"I didn't think that the media was going to find out about this, but it seemed that some person leaked the news about our meeting, so that was why they were swarming us just now, trying to figure out what's going on."

"Why do they care? It's just a regular meeting, right?" I asked, and I fell quiet as he shook his head.

"It isn't a normal meeting. This meeting… I'm basically negotiating a contract, a deal of some sort with our rivals, big rivals, Kaiba Corporation. I'm meeting with their CEO, so that's why there's such a commotion. Everyone wants to know why the two biggest rivals in business are sitting down at the same table to have a **_chat_**."

"Oh…" I murmured to myself, and I looked up at him to see that he was nervous. I've never seen Daddy this nervous either. Putting down my cookie on the small table next to the chair, I scooted closer to where he was standing at the other end. "Are you happy to be making, or talking about this deal?" and at my question he looked up, startled. He smiled though and patted my head to which I responded to with a playful scowl.

"Ah, you don't worry about that. I won't let him take what he wants," he said, and just when I was about to ask when he was going to come back, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Daddy called, and I watched curiously as the lady from outside poked her head through the door. Her violet, long hair hung under her head. Seeing us, she stepped in properly and stood up straight.

"Sir, Mr. Kaiba is here to see you now. He's waiting for you in conference room number seven," she said, and I glanced at Daddy to see him take a deep breath.

"Alright. Inform him that I'm on my way," Daddy told her, and she left, the door closing behind her with a tiny click.

"You have to go now?" I asked quietly, and Daddy nodded.

"Yes. I have to go now," he said, and he grinned after no doubt seeing my crestfallen face. "Don't worry. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, you can play with his son. Ah! Yes. His name is Seto."

 _"_ _Seto."_ I twisted my mouth in thought. Was he nice? Hm, meeting new people was always so hard.

"Okay, Atem. I gotta go. See you later," and he kissed me quickly on the head and gave me back the cookie I had put aside. "If you need anything, Celine is outside."

I nodded. "Okay."

Smiling at me once more, Daddy turned around and left, the door closing behind him. I was all alone now.

Plopping down on the couch, I set the cookie on my lap and stared at the ceiling fan that slowly whirled around and around and around. I sighed. What was the other kid like? Was he eight years old like me? I sat up and looked around, my eyes falling on the little cupboard in the corner where Daddy kept my toys and colouring books whenever I had to come to the office with him. Maybe Seto would like to colour. Or, maybe we could play a game. They were a gaming company too, right?

Brushing the crumbs off of my suit, I threw the wrapper into the trash bin and stood up. When was he going to get here? As soon as the thought crossed my mind, there was another knock on the door. I turned to stare at the handle as it turned and creaked open, only to see a boy with brown hair step inside. He stopped, took a look around the room briefly before his blue eyes fell on me, and just stared. A frown was on his face, and I found myself unable to move or say anything to him. He didn't look happy, but he didn't look sad either. He just looked, angry.

Stepping behind him just a short moment later was the nice lady from outside, and I quickly looked at her while wringing my hands behind my back. I was feeling so nervous before, and seeing him, the feeling only got worse. Celine stood behind Seto and smiled at me reassuringly.

"Atem, this is Seto. Seto, this is Atem," she introduced, and just for manners sake I walked over to him and smiled as brightly as I could.

"Hi," I said. He however still stayed put and continued to stare at me. He was quite intimidating, but maybe he too was just as nervous. I lifted my hand to shake his.

"I'm Seto Kaiba," he replied, and his head straightened as he spoke. He looked down at me, and my outstretched hand disappeared behind my back when a moment passed and he didn't return the handshake. My eyes dropped down to stare at his shiny black dress shoes which I immediately started to compare with my blue and black plaid-printed sneakers. This was already starting off bad.

"Okay, so you two boys have fun. I'll be just outside if you need anything," Celine then said, and she left, closing the door behind her.

I removed my eyes from Seto's shoes and looked back up to see that we were both left staring at each other. Not wanting to stay in the awkward silence, I spoke, hoping that he would start opening up as well.

"Uh, do you want to colour?" I asked hesitantly. "I have a lot of colouring books that we could-"

"No thank you," he said curtly, and he walked away from me to sit on the couch. It wasn't until he pulled a little, brown coloured back pack on to his lap did I notice he had it with him.

"Oh, okay. Do you have something that you would like to do?" I asked as he unzipped his bag and started to look through it. He still wasn't looking at me, and at this point I started chewing the insides of my mouth nervously.

"Yes, I do, in fact," he said, and feeling relieved, a small smile made its way on to my face as I started to walk over to him. However, it was quickly wiped away when I saw that he pulled out a dark blue book with yellow writing on the cover, opened it up, and started to read silently to himself.

I really didn't know what to do at this point. Should I just leave him alone then? But, wouldn't that be rude? We were brought together to play while our fathers were in that meeting. If he wanted to do something by himself, atleast we should first get to know each other instead of sitting in awkward silence.

"What book is that?" I just went on to ask, and I slowly approached him. Seto turned a page, but I was still persistent. "I like reading books too. Daddy would read to me every night. What's that one about?" When he continued to ignore me, I couldn't understand if he just wasn't good with people, or if he was just being rude.

"Don't you know how to read?" he suddenly said, and he snapped his eyes towards me. I froze. I didn't bother sitting next to him after that.

"I can't see the cover so I don't really know-" I stammered, backing away from him, and he continued shouting at me with a funny, teasing but mean sounding tone in his voice.

"Why does your Father have to read to you? Can't you read on your own?"

I was at a loss for words. How could he say something like that?!

"Yes, I can read," I said, my voice rising. "I just like it when he reads to me. What's wrong with that?"

"Humph," and he looked away from me after smirking. "My Father was right. You are a joke, and so is this company. It's absolutely dreadful," and he looked around the room with disgust. I didn't understand what he meant by dreadful, but from the way he said it, I was sure it was something mean.

"Thank goodness he's going to buy it," Seto then went on to mutter to himself, but I caught his words. My eyes widened and they quickly turned towards him with shock.

"What? What do you mean he's going to buy it?" I asked, and a deep frown appeared on my face when Seto turned to me and laughed, flashing me an amused, raised eyebrow.

"Of course. Why else do you think we're here? Sennen Corporation has been a nuisance for quite some time, so my father is determined to shut this joke of a company down and rid it once and for good."

"Sennen Corporation is not a joke, okay?" I yelled, and Seto chuckled, closing his book to stand and walk towards me. My eyes glared at him with annoyance.

"It is a joke," Seto restated, and he gestured around himself. "I've only been here for less than half an hour, and I can already see that my father's decision was right. This is the CEO's office, yet it's a disaster."

Who did he think he was, going around saying such things?! My heart hurt a bit as some truth sunk in, but he still couldn't say that. How can they even think of buying it because it isn't like theirs?

"Atleast I'm not behaving like a stuck up snob," I growled, and he smirked in return, his arms crossing.

"I may be a snob, as you put it, but atleast my Father is preparing me for taking over his company. Yours is reading you bed time stories and probably still tucking you into bed," he mocked, and my already clenched fists clenched even tighter. "Here you are, defending your father's company when you know nothing about it? Did it ever occur to you that one day you'll have to run everything around here?

"We're still little. Why do we have to think about taking over the company now?" I asked harshly, but he continued to smile down at me with disdain.

"Yeah, I can see that you are still a little child from your behaviour, while I'm already on my way in becoming a great CEO. You on the other hand have, what, cookie crumbs on your suit? When I take over, you're going to be an even worse joke to handle in the future. Oh well, atleast it won't be hard crushing you," and he lifted his chin, the scowl on his face looking even more prominent from this angle. However, I quickly looked down at myself and realised with dismay that there were still indeed crumbs on my shirt. Face red, I angrily brushed them away and glared at his back that was walking back towards the couch.

"We'll see," I growled, and he smirked, but said nothing.

What he said, none of that was true. If it is, and his father did want to buy it, there was no way Daddy was going to sell. Sennen Corporation was our family organisation and he loved it so much. We did so much for people through our charities and donations, and if all Seto cared about was making money and being on top, then our company was desperately needed. Seto was going to regret those words! I'll show him what my father and I could do. We weren't a joke. But yet… my face couldn't help but fall. What he said about me was right in some way. If I wanted to take over the company, I had to grow up first. I didn't know anything about running a company, or what you even do. I really didn't pay much attention to it, while Seto seems to know everything. He sure did seem smart, even though he had an attitude problem. So, what should I do? I couldn't let Seto continue to say those things.

Not wanting to deal face Seto anymore, all of my kindness towards him already being thrown out the window and only immense dislike radiating from me towards him, I turned around and just ignored him to the best of my ability. Pushing the sad thoughts to the back of my mind, I walked over to the little cupboard and grabbed my favourite animal colouring book and the box of colours before walking over to Daddy's desk, pulling the spinning chair closer to the desk and lifting it so that I would be able to sit at the desk properly. Making some room, ignoring the memory of Seto commenting on the messiness, I sat down and opened the book up to a random page and begun to colour furiously. I spared only a second long glance over at Seto to see that he went back to his book, and I silently hoped the room stayed this quiet until the meeting was over.

Although it felt like forever, I was filled with relief when Celine walked in just an hour later with Daddy behind her. I immediately got up, leaving everything on the desk, and ran over to him while Celine ushered Seto out, telling him that his father was ready to leave. I glanced at Seto to see him looking at me as he passed by us, and that was it. He was gone, and Daddy was back. I held on to him tightly as he patted my head.

"Missed me so much?" Daddy teased, and he chuckled, walking over to his desk while I held on to his jacket. He hummed to himself, the action wracking his entire body, and all I could do was bury my head into him as my heart suddenly felt heavy and tears pricked the corners of my eyes. I closed them, feeling him wrapping and arm around my shoulders as he skimmed through the books on his desk and started gathering somethings under the arm whose hand I was clutching.

"Tired?" he asked, and once more his hand patted my head, brushing through my hair. I nodded, looking up at his tired face and then at the desk. He was closing my colouring book that I had left open and putting the colours into a pile instead of keeping them scattered all over.

"Ahh. Hang in there. We're going to go home soon, okay? You'll have a nap, and then we can go watch that movie you wanted-"

"Did you sell the company?" I blurted suddenly, gripping tight, and looking up at him I waited for an answer with pleading, desperate eyes. He looked at me, his own wide with surprise before they closed, revealing the exhaustion and stress that he tried to hide from me.

"Who told you that?" he questioned, his voice soft, and I sniffled before answering.

"Seto told me. He said that his father wants to buy our company."

"Seto said that to you?" Daddy asked, and he leaned closer to me, his face serious. I nodded once more, moving my face and wiping the tears on the other side of my face as Daddy wiped away a trail on my other cheek. Now I was crying. I really was a baby.

"Seto… he wasn't very nice either. He said so many mean things about us and he-"

"Alright, alright," Daddy hushed, and he hugged me again gently. "Don't worry about what he says," and he glance down at me again to smile reassuringly. "And, don't worry about the company. I didn't sell it to him. He got mad, insulted me, insulted the company and boasted about himself, but I didn't mind. I said no, so don't you get too scared. I won't ever sell it, especially to people like them."

"Really?" I asked, and Daddy grinned brightly.

"Really."

Feeling somewhat at ease, I let out a deep breath to calm myself down even further and held Daddy's hand as he picked up his briefcase. He winked at me as I watched, and realising that my colouring book was still out, I left his hand to quickly put it away before returning, just as he was finishing up.

"So, we'll eat, take a nap, and then watch the movie tonight, okay?" and I smiled, looking up at him as we left, closing the door behind us as we did so.

"Leaving already, Atem?" Celine asked, and she stood to take the file from Daddy that he handed to her. After listening to his instructions, she went on to smile down at me with her big, grey eyes. I nodded sheepishly is response to her question. "Would you like another cookie before you go?"

I was ready to nod my head because her cookies were to die for, but remembering Seto's spiteful words, I bit my lip and shook my head.

"Alright. See you next time," and she waved, me giving her a small wave back as she sat back down and went to work as Daddy and I continued to walk off.

"Why didn't you want it? You always wanted one of her cookies," Daddy wondered as we stepped into the elevator, and not wanting to tell him, I just shrugged.

"Silly," he whispered when I didn't answer, and we walked out of the elevator as it reached the ground floor. Things had calmed down and the media people have mostly left, so I found myself paying a closer attention to the people that worked diligently. I had to learn eventually, right?

Perhaps it wasn't too late for me to change.

* * *

 **Alright! That was the end of that.**

 **I have to say though that I hope you all are paying attention to the little things that happen in these moments. Although they are in random order, they are connected to one another, changing a little bit about the characters and creating a moment that may hold significance in the future chapters. Just a little tip if you're interested!**

 **Anyways. Please review, please tell me what you thought of this chapter, because it was a bit serious, and thank you a billion times for reading.**

 **Bye~**


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